Plame vows to battle CIA over free speech

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Outed former covert agent plans to press lawsuits against Cheney, agency

An ex-spy whose unmasking led to the conviction of Vice President Dick Cheney’s top aide vowed on Saturday to press on with lawsuits against Cheney and the CIA for the sake of freedom of speech.

“Just as we have to be vigilant to protect our national security—something I believe in passionately—we have to be vigilant to protect our freedom of speech and First Amendment rights,” Valerie Plame Wilson said in a speech at a book convention.

Plame and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New York on Thursday against top CIA officials for blocking publication of her memoir on national security grounds.

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“This has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with political influence and manipulation,” Plame said of the CIA’s demand that she not discuss her service before 2002.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19001829/